ATR Survival Guide

ATR Survival Guide

We took our popular Educator Survival Guide and modified it for educators in the NYC Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR) pool. This is not a “one size fits all” guide, but we hope you find useful information that can help you, and your students, through your current career situation. If you find it useful, please share it. If you want to add, please comment below.

This is guide is ever changing and we hope to continue to improve it through contributions and comments by other ATRs. Like we said above, this is not a “one size fits all” guide as there are many, many variables in play here. What works, and doesn’t work, can depend on your grade level, the location where you work, your license and background, supervisors and most importantly YOU.

Attitude: You may or may not enjoy being an ATR and most likely you are an ATR through no fault of your own, but the fact is these are the cards you are currently dealt. To survive, and thrive, you have to play these cards the best way you can. Despite the odds, you have to remain as positive as possible. You are employed and paid to do something, so let’s make the best of it and do something. Make a positive difference to the students you encounter. You have to accept that you are a temporary stranger in a school. You may not be welcomed with open arms by permanent staff. Keep in mind that permanent staff is drowning in work and you should not take it to heart.If you are not assigned to a class, perhaps you can offer the school other services. Maybe you are creative and can help with a flyer or push in to a class that needs help. Make sure you are not assigned more than one professional duty a day and are given your contractual preps.

Fill your tool bag: Even if a car mechanic was moved from shop to shop, like we are, they still need tools to work. From a ratchet set, to light to a hydraulic lift, the more tools they have the better they can do the job. The same goes for you. Yes, we know that often times you are given nothing, but let’s see how we can fix that.

Projector and interactive board: Most, but not all schools, have interactive boards or some projector system set up. Make use of it by capturing the students’ attention through engaging and highly visual lessons. If a teacher, or administrator, says you are not allowed to use it, or any present tool in the room, send them an email and ask them to put it in writing. One ATR who covered a teacher’s room a few time was told “I would appreciate it of you don’t touch my stuff while you’re in here.” The ATR responded with “With all due respect, for the next 45 minutes these are my students, this is my classroom and this DOE owned equipment is for me to use. If there is a problem, please speak to my supervisor who may be dropping in to observe me.” Access was given.

Laptop: You may not always have access to one, so buy one. You can get an inexpensive one for $200 at Best Buy and make it your own. Fill it with your lessons and resources as well as web shortcuts. Download a free version of Microsoft Office here (portal.office.com) using your DOE email credentials (click Install up top) and use PowerPoint to create a great presentation. You can also get a more visually appealing online presentation app called Prezi.com and access it from any classroom with internet. Have your lessons easily accessible. use Prezi or upload them to you Google Drive or Dropbox to download from wherever.

A Great Lesson: The UFT has confirmed that if you find the lesson left for you inadequate, out of your license or league, or just downright boring, then engage the students with your own awesome lesson. You have freedom most permanent educators do not. Exercise it. Create a lesson, or lessons, you are passionate about. Sitting there playing on your phone, while students are hanging out playing on theirs can not only land you in trouble, but is a disservice to them. See section 1 above on attitude. You may also want to peruse some great lessons here at http://www.educationworld.com/ or http://teacherspayteachers.com

ATR Francesco Portelos, shares some other useful teacher tools on his educational site mrportelos.com and click FOR EDUCATORS up top.

Daily protocol: 5 in a row? Clocking in and out and signing in and out at security? No! You are not supposed to do any of those things. No violations of the rules agreed to by the UFT and DOE here: www.atralliance.org/rules. Print them out if you have to. Some school secretaries and administrators genuinely do not know.

Document. Document. Document! It is extremely important that you document and document well. Do it in an organized manner. One of the best ways to do that is with your smartphone.

Take Pictures: Set up an app like Dropbox, iCloud or Google Photos. The reason is that you can set it up so your photos are automatically uploaded to your secure online storage for retrieval later. When you’re given your program for the day, snap a photo of it. When you’re left a lesson, snap a photo. They are time and date stamped so they can be retrieved later if needed. Hopefully you won’t need to prove anything, but you never know.

Record: If you feel that you are the subject of unwarranted harassment, or targeted, it is good practice to record communication. It’s not ideal, but lesson observations can be very subjective and you don’t want anyone falsifying observations or allegations without the truth coming out. There are many free apps for smartphones and remember that audio recording is legal in NYS as long as one party knows about it.

Dealing with Field Supervisors and School Supervisors: Whether you are in contact with school administrators or field supervisors, know that the onus is on them to help support and facilitate your work. Need supplies? Need access to keys? Ask them. Document it in an email if you have to. There are ATRs who have been the subject of false allegations while interacting with supervisors. See Number 4 above regarding documentation. Some of the best rebuttals have been with the aid of an audio recorder. Some ATRs recorded the pre-observation, actual observation lesson and post observation. They used the information to rebut the false claims made in post observation reports. For example: “Field Supervisor Smith, you stated in your post observation report that none of the students answered my question regarding the story setting. However, students _____ did answer that very question. He did so at about 14 minutes and 33 seconds into the lesson.” See how your factual data is countering their false allegation?You can always check and add comments for Field Supervisors here at www.atralliance.org/fs. Please be honest and professional when doing so. Stick to the facts.If things get very bad and you have proof of unethical actions, you can also file a Moral Character complaint with the NYS Education Department. See link here for the form: uftsolidarity.org/moralcharacter

4 Comments

I hope this helps! I really like the input that fell in the topics of Attitude and Fill your tool bag. When it comes to GUC – Guidance Counselor’s/School Counselor’s. It can be quite a different approach although we should maintain a positive attitude. We should keep in mind that the assigned GUC can appear at times territorial about you interacting with their students. Therefore, taken a light approach in servicing students would not come across as you taking them away. Presentation is everything and it helps when you come into unknown territory knowing what it is you’d like to do when that opportunity comes. Having materials and supplies such as guidance/intervention books and USB with projects. Things that you have utilized when your were assigned to your very own students can actually sheds light on your strength professionally and how differently your ideas can easily be emulated in the school(s) you are assigned.

I love the Guide, and for some please note that’s it’s a guide. Next, I believe that ATTITUDE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR in the Guide for without a good attitude everything else is a mess. However, the other points are important too.